


Of Knights and Maidens

by ddrhckrzz



Category: RWBY
Genre: F/M, Gen, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-17
Updated: 2018-03-17
Packaged: 2019-04-03 15:54:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,983
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13999527
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ddrhckrzz/pseuds/ddrhckrzz
Summary: The Knights and Maidens of Old have come and gone, and with it begins a new cycle where new heroes and new villains awaken. Only problem was, they needed the Knights and Maidens to return to Remnant once more. Yet what are they to do when all they have is one young Arc and a Maiden all but lost to death?





	1. Prologue - The Final Oath

**Prologue - Final Oath**

* * *

 

It was atop a desolate mountain in which the first Oath was taken, Julius thought it to be only fitting and unfortunate that it will be the place for the last Oath as well.

 

Julius walked up near the edge, his dark cloak billowing in the wind, held on to him by the straps around his chest plate. Eyes of an oceanic blue, and hair of an almost golden shade, he wore a modest chest plate along with shin guards and knee guards protecting his body. Underneath his armor were his clothing consisting of dark blue pants and a light blue shirt.

 

“The King has made his decision.” Aurelia said as she walked up to the edge of the peak. She wore a simple dress consisting of a white blouse and brown pants. “The final Oath must be taken, and with it, so does the cycle end.”

 

“Does it truly have to end this way?” Julius muttered, looking into Aurelia’s amber eyes.

 

She smiled sadly, “Much as I hate for our paths to separate, Remnant needs us no longer. We shall follow in Spring’s footsteps and fade away once and for all.” She walked towards him and put a hand on his shoulder, “This will be the rest that we--and our families--deserve.”

 

Julius stared at her for a minute, before closing his eyes and nodding. When he opened them, a smile appeared on his face.

 

“Then it shall be done.” He said, and she stepped back. They were atop the peak of the mountain.

 

Aurelia on the higher ground and Julius on the lower. He unhooked his blade and shield, Crocea Mors, from his hip, freeing it. He held it in both hands and offered it up to Aurelia.

 

Aurelia smiled and took out the staff from behind her, extending it.

 

Suddenly, Aurelia and Julius started to glow a bright gold hue and their eyes started to look much like a golden flame.

 

“Julius Arc.” Her voice boomed like thunder, and silenced everything around them. Julius looked up to her, showing that his eyes were much the same as hers in how they glowed a bright gold flame, “As the Knight of Fall, do you take the Oath to protect the light, be it human, or faunus, from the darkness that is not only Grimm but could also be Man itself?”

 

A whirlwind started to form around the ground they were standing on, sending a large amount of dirt, sand and gravel up into the air.

 

It did not bother them, nor did it affect them much, however.

 

“I shall protect and abide by the Oath with my life.” Julius said, his voice flowing smoothly like the ocean. “I swear this Oath to the name of Arc.”

 

Aurelia smiled for a moment, but it disappeared as soon as it came. She pointed her staff down to the offered weapon and when the top of the staff, which held a gem-like crystal inside it, touched the weapon, both weapons began to glow white.

 

“Then by the power that has descended upon me from the Cycles and Ages that have come and gone, and as the Maiden of Fall, I decree you free of the responsibilities of the Knight of Fall.” She said, and the golden glow that was around Julius changed, turning to a white glow as the glow around the weapon he held changed as well, turning from a white glow into a golden glow.

 

Then slowly, the intense golden flame which burned around his eyes disappeared as well, turning his eyes back to normal, making his ocean blue eyes clear once more.

 

The whirlwind around them died to a stop as well.

 

“Just as there is a beginning, there is an end.” Aurelia muttered, the glow around her form and the intense flame around her eyes disappearing, raising her staff once more and collapsing it, placing it back behind her, she continued, “Rise, Julius, for while you may no longer be a Knight of Fall, you are still a Knight and a Hunter of Vale.” A smile appeared on her face, “Our journey together may have come to an end, the journey that dictates our lives, however, has not.”

 

Julius stared at his glowing form, marveling at the white glow that was upon him once more, then slowly it faded, and he looked up at Aurelia, still holding up Crocea Mors to her.

 

“But... Crocea Mors...” Julius said, looking up at her expectantly,

 

Aurelia rolled her eyes and scoffed, waving a hand towards him as she turned around to face the setting sun. “Keep it. The Arcs have earned it. Besides,” She muttered, looking back to him for a moment, her long brown hair bouncing as she moved, “The Maidens have only helped in creating it. You are its wielder, not I.” She then looked back to the setting sun and looked up at the sky, taking a deep breath. “Regardless of that, think of it as a parting gift.” She said, and Julius finally stood up and holstered the weapon beside him again. “For while the Maiden of Fall may fade into nothing but a small fairy tale, Crocea Mors, the Yellow--or perhaps, Golden--Death, will not.”

 

Julius just stared at her back for a few seconds before snorting and shaking his head. “Whatever you say, Aurelia.”

 

Aurelia cracked a smile at that, before a frown settled upon her face. She sighed. “Please, Julius, go now. I do not wish to change my mind, and the longer you are here, the more that I may do so.”

 

Julius chuckled, “Of course.” Then, he turned around and started to walk away. Before he disappeared from the mountain top, however, he said one last thing to Aurelia. “May our paths cross once more.” Finally, she was left alone at the peak of the mountain.

 

As night descended only one thing came out of her lips. “I could only hope for that to never come to pass.”

 

She turned around and looked up at the shattered moon, grimacing as she did.

 

She walked down the path towards Vale, pulling her hood up.

 

“May Remnant need us no longer.” Aurelia muttered to herself, and the mountain was left alone.


	2. Chapter 1 - Wake up Call

**Chapter 1 - Wake up Call**

 

* * *

 

_“--why are you doing this?!”_

 

_“I’m here to take what’s mine.”_

 

_“But--Argh! I can’t give it to you! It was never my choice to gain this!”_

 

_“Then it is only rightful for me to take it as I need. Is it not?”_

 

_“You can’t--ARGH!”_

 

_“Scream for me. Scream and let them know that this power was never for you to have. Scream and let them know:_

 

_“That this power was never for you to have, Amber.”_

 

* * *

 

Jaune gasped as he woke up. Sitting up on his bed.

 

He looked at the clock, 4:44 AM, too early.

 

He sighed and hung his head back, trying to calm himself as his heart kept beating rapidly.

 

Another nightmare.

 

“Damn.” Jaune mumbled as he palmed his face, “Why does it have to keep being so damn vague?” He muttered as he panted, taking deep breaths to calm himself.

 

“Jaune?” Pyrrha asked in concern, having been roused from her sleep. “Are you okay?”

 

“Yeah...” Jaune said with a shaky breath, eyes closed as he leaned back on the wall behind his bed. “Just... some rough nightmares lately.”

 

Pyrrha looked at him and saw that he looked incredibly tired. She frowned and moved to sit beside him, placing her hand on top of his.

 

“Jaune, look at me.” Pyrrha said, noticing how he was shaking, “Jaune.” She said, a little more firmly this time as she gripped his hand a little more firmly.

 

Jaune finally opened his eyes and looked at Pyrrha.

 

He looked frightened. Pyrrha’s heart nearly broke from that.

 

“O...Okay...” Jaune said, shakily, gripping both of her hands now. He gripped tightly but she didn’t say anything. She only looked at Jaune with concern.

 

“Breathe, Jaune. Breathe.” Pyrrha said to him, and Jaune did as she said, taking a deep breath. “Yes. Now relax. Just relax.”

 

After a few more seconds, Jaune finally calmed down.

 

Jaune took one last deep breath, then stared at Pyrrha in the eyes.

 

Jaune smiled at her, and while Pyrrha still looked at him in concern for a few moments, she eventually found herself smiling at him.

 

“You’re okay now?” Pyrrha asked, still feeling slightly concerned over him.

 

Jaune chuckled for a moment. “Yeah. Much better.” He then let go of her hands, and proceeded to hug her. “Thanks a lot Pyr.”

 

Pyrrha felt herself blush for a moment, but just smiled. “Not a problem Jaune.” She said and broke hug. As nice as it felt, she knew that she had to confront him about this. “Jaune, you’ve been having these horrible nightmares for a while now, are you sure you’re okay?”

 

Jaune grimaced at that, turning away slightly and scratching the back of his head. “I… I don’t know Pyr.” Jaune sighed, and Pyrrha just continued to look at him in concern. “It’s just… all these nightmares. These nightmares haven't been happening only after I got here at Beacon.”

 

Pyrrha frowned at that, but didn’t say anything. Instead waiting for Jaune to continue.

 

She was glad that Ren and Nora were heavy sleepers, otherwise they would have been woken up by Jaune much earlier. Although at the same time, if she weren’t always awoken by Jaune’s nightmares, then she wouldn’t know what would have happened to Jaune.

 

That worried her.

 

“I just don’t know.” Jaune shook his head, looking frustrated, “Pyrrha… I… I don’t even understand these nightmares. They’re literally just voices speaking inside my head—and somehow whenever I wake up it feels like I—” Pyrrha saw Jaune on the verge of tears, his knuckles turning white as he clenched them hard.

 

“It’s okay Jaune.” Pyrrha muttered, hugging him this time. Closing her eyes as she rubbed his back. “I’m here.”

 

“Pyrrha…” Jaune choked back a sob. “It’s so stupid… it’s so stupid…”

 

“It’s okay.” Pyrrha whispered, “You’re my partner, Jaune. I don’t mind.”

 

“Why does it always hurt, Pyrrha? Nightmares… they’re not supposed to be like this, right?” That made Pyrrha pause.

 

She frowned and narrowed her eyes, making her break the hug again to get a good look at Jaune.

 

“Hurt?” Pyrrha asked, suddenly feeling more concerned as she looked at him. “Jaune, what do you mean by that?”

 

“I… I don’t know.” Jaune said, not knowing what to say. Before he sighed and shook his head. “You know that feeling where it’s almost like… some part of you is being pulled out, but it’s not physical?”

 

Pyrrha blinked at that, confused. “Like… what? I don’t know. I don’t get what you mean Jaune, sorry.”

 

Jaune furrowed his brows, looking agitated, “I don’t know how else to explain it, honestly.” He bit his lip, muttering unintelligible words to himself before he shook his head and took a deep breath. Then he looked Pyrrha in the eye. “The best way I can explain this to you, I guess, is that it’s almost like a part of me is being ripped away. Like… like a part of my soul is being ripped away from me all of a sudden.” Jaune paused and looked to the side for a moment, before he shook his head. “I don’t know, that’s the only way I can think explaining it, honestly.”

 

“A part of your… soul?” Pyrrha muttered with furrowed brows, then she immediately took her scroll from her desk and checked Jaune’s Aura. Her eyes widened in surprise. “J-Jaune… your Aura…”

 

Jaune blinked, looking at Pyrrha’s scroll. “What…?”

 

“Your Aura got drained in half…” Pyrrha muttered sounding surprised, and yet, at the same time, scared.

 

* * *

Ozpin sipped his coffee as he watched the sun rise over the horizon of Beacon.

 

He looked down towards the statue in the courtyard and frowned, seeing how it was glowing a bright golden color.

 

“The Maiden calls for its Knight once again…” Ozpin muttered to himself, closing his eyes with a small sigh.

 

“Professor Ozpin.” Ozpin turned around in his chair and placed down his mug of coffee, looking up as Glynda went out of the elevator and walked into his office. “Jaune Arc…” There was a frown on her face as she spoke. Ozpin just sighed and pushed up his glasses.

 

“Yes, Ms. Goodwitch. I am aware.” Ozpin stood up and straightened his coat. “Mr. Arc wishes to see me, yes?”

 

“Yes. But… have you always known that he was the Knight of Fall?” Glynda asked,

 

Ozpin smiled and shook his head. “No, my guess is as good as yours, Ms. Goodwitch.”

 

“All this time it was the Arcs…” Glynda muttered and Ozpin chuckled, “You never knew?”

 

“Only the King ever knew who they were.” Ozpin said, and walked towards the elevator. Glynda following behind him. “Even still, this may just be a coincidence and the boy may be called on by another Maiden.”

 

“I could only hope for that to not be the case.” Glynda muttered, and they went down the elevator.

 

* * *

 

Jaune stared as his Aura bar slowly filled up. He then looked worriedly at the nurse and asked him a question. “Are there really no side effects to this?”

 

The nurse just smiled. “No, Mr. Arc. There would be, but this machine you’re connected to—” He referred to the metallic wristband that was injecting the substance into Jaune, “—regulates the Dust essence going into you.”

 

Jaune looked at the metal wristband that had the Atlesian logo on top of it along with the SDC logo beside it. It was glowing green at the moment, showing that it was working.

 

“It doesn’t hurt?” Pyrrha asked, seated beside Jaune and looking at the wristband which apparently regenerated Jaune’s Aura by injecting the Dust essence into their system.

 

“No, it doesn’t.” Jaune muttered, surprised as well. “Wait, aren’t there compatibilities with the Dust going into someone’s system?”

 

The nurse nodded. Checking up on Jaune again and checking off more details on his clipboard. As he was writing, he answered Jaune’s question. “Yes there is, but since your Aura is of a color white, then you’re compatible with all types of Dust. As for Ms. Nikos however…” The nurse then looked to Pyrrha, “She’s not quite as lucky as you. There are only a few specific Dust types which actually work with Ms. Nikos. All of which are quite expensive and hard to come by.”

 

Pyrrha blinked, looking at the nurse for a moment before looking back at the wristband. “Still, that’s quite amazing. Technology advances quite far these days…” She muttered to herself.

 

The nurse nodded. “This isn’t even the final stage for this piece of technology here.” He said with a smile, chuckling at the surprised faces on Jaune and Pyrrha. “Much as I’d like to speak more to you kids, it seems the Headmaster has just arrived.” He said, bowing to Ozpin as he entered on the door in front of the nurse and beside Jaune and Pyrrha. “Good morning sir.”

 

Ozpin nodded at the nurse and the nurse smiled at Jaune and Pyrrha for one more moment, before going out of the room.

 

Pyrrha and Jaune stood up to greet Ozpin, but he just smiled and waved his hand at them.

 

“Please sit down, Mr. Arc, Ms. Nikos.” Ozpin said, and they all sat down, with Ozpin and Glynda opposite of Jaune and Pyrrha. “Now, Mr. Arc, what did you wish to speak with me?”

 

“I…” Jaune grimaced and looked to Pyrrha. Pyrrha held his hand to comfort him, making him smile at her. Jaune took a deep breath and faced Ozpin again. “I’ve been having some… rough nightmares lately, sir.”

 

Ozpin frowned and raised a brow, “Nightmares?”

 

“I… somehow I get these nightmares about… someone else. Or maybe about some memory I’ve lost—I don’t know.” Jaune shook his head, frustrated. “It’s just… these nightmares have been about the same person, I never see anything, all I hear are distant voices, and yet…” He gripped Pyrrha’s hand a little more tightly, “Yet somehow whenever I wake up it’s just… just so painful, and… terrifying.”

 

Ozpin frowned. “Painful?” He asked, rather pointlessly, but he had to confirm this first. Jaune nodded, not knowing of the thoughts running through Ozpin’s head.

 

“It’s almost like a part of me is being taken out—or, I guess, my Aura is being drained from me, which… is exactly what happened.” Jaune muttered, letting go of Pyrrha’s hand and touching the metallic wristband on his right wrist.

 

Ozpin looked as well, and nodded to himself. “Do you remember what these voices said in these nightmares, Mr. Arc? A name, perhaps?”

 

Jaune flinched at that, which did not go unnoticed by anyone, but nodded. “Y-yeah… it was about someone named Amber…”

 

At the mention of the name of the current Fall Maiden, Ozpin and Glynda looked at one another, before they looked back to Jaune.

 

Jaune looked at them curiously, “Do you know of that person, sir?”

 

“Yes.” Ozpin answered, then looked at Pyrrha. “However, I will have to ask the both of you to keep a secret on this.”

 

Jaune and Pyrrha blinked at that, “Sir?”

 

“I can understand sharing this with your teammates, but please, as much as possible, don’t let this information spread out” Ozpin said, and they both nodded.

 

“Wait, sir, why? Have I done something wrong with mentioning the name?” Jaune asked, worried.

 

Ozpin just smiled, “No, Mr. Arc, you haven’t done anything wrong. In fact, this just confirms for me that I’ve been neglecting this problem for far too long now.” He said, “The Fall Maiden has been calling for her Knight for a while now, I suppose it would only be with luck that it’d be you, Mr. Arc, who’d be the Fall Knight.”

 

“What?” Jaune blinked, confused, “What do you mean sir?”

 

“Before I explain, I would like to hear from the two of you that you will keep all information of this conversation as confidential as possible.” Ozpin said, leaning forward, looking at them seriously.

 

Jaune and Pyrrha looked at one another for a moment, both frowning. Before Pyrrha nodded.

 

“Nora and Ren don’t know about the nightmares yet as far as I know.” Pyrrha smiled. “I think we can keep it a secret.”

 

Jaune shrugged, before looking at Ozpin. “Yes, we will keep all information from this conversation as confidential as possible. I will keep my word on that, Headmaster.”

 

Ozpin looked into Jaune’s eyes for a moment before he smiled. “Good. I’ve heard that Arcs never go back on their word.” He then sat back on his chair as he looked at Jaune and Pyrrha. “I assume you two have heard of the tale of the Knights and Maidens of Seasons?”

 

They both nodded at that, however, Pyrrha hesitated for a moment.

 

“I know of the Maidens, but the Knights… I have not heard of them before.” Pyrrha said, looking to Jaune, who just chuckled and scratched the back of his head while shrugging.

 

Ozpin looked at Pyrrha and nodded. “Of course. Mistral has not heard of the Spring Knight for… quite some time.” He looked at Jaune, “And you, Mr. Arc?”

 

“Well… as an Arc it’s hard not to know of those series of fairy tales.” Jaune said with a small smile. “It’s always been passed down from generation to generation. I doubt that tradition will ever end for us anytime soon either.”

 

Ozpin nodded, looking at both of them again. “Since it seems that both of you know of the Maidens already, why don’t you tell the tale of the Seasonal Knights, Mr. Arc?”

 

Jaune nodded with a small smile. “As we all know, the Four Maidens of the Four Seasons all inherited their powers from the Wizard, right? It kind of goes in that same vein how the Knights of Seasons got their powers. However, there is only ever one bond that a Maiden can have to attain her Knight, showing that there are as many Knights as there are Maidens. The story goes like this, there was a man who once was dedicated to being with a Maiden for his whole life that he sacrificed himself time and again for the Maiden. The Maiden, witnessing his dedication and courage, decided to bind her power unto him.”

 

“Bind? Does that mean that she loses a portion of her power?” Pyrrha asked, and Jaune nodded.

 

“They both gain an equal amount of it. However, it is not quite so easy to be bound to a Maiden. After the Maiden chooses you to be her Knight, you must accept an Oath and take it. After which will you only be known as her Knight.” Jaune explained. “Although… there’s not much else to really say about the Knights. Other than the fact that they protected and followed the Maidens for all their life until their Oath is released.”

 

Pyrrha frowned at that, before looking at Ozpin. “But, Professor, how can you say that Jaune is the Knight of Fall? Much less say that Amber is the Maiden of Fall? Aren’t these all just… fairy tales?”

 

“Well… what if I told you these ones were true?” Ozpin smiled. Pyrrha looked at Jaune and he shrugged.

 

“I guess it wouldn’t be surprising. Though I still don’t quite understand how you can say that I’m the Knight of Fall without even being bound to Amber—who is the supposed Maiden of Fall—without me knowing that I took an Oath.” Jaune frowned.

 

Ozpin sighed, leaning back into his seat. “As with all things that go through the passage of time, so does the rite of passage change.” Jaune and Pyrrha just watched Ozpin, waiting for him to continue. Ozpin looked at his watch and frowned. “And I suppose it would only be fitting that time would catch up to us. Think on that, Mr. Arc. We shall meet later if you wish. For now, I cannot meddle with your classes.”

 

Jaune blinked and saw Ozpin and Glynda stand to leave the small room. “Sir?”

 

Ozpin glanced at Jaune and smiled for a moment. “There are places in which you’d find truth where it would be thought of as fiction. Perhaps… a certain swordsman living in a den of tigers would know.”

 

Then they left the room.

 

* * *

 

Jaune stared at the large board filled with papers, pins, and strings. Doctor Bartholomew Oobleck was a strange man, he thought. He was a genius, Jaune was sure of that, but his mind sure worked in an interesting manner.

 

Looking at the layout of everything on the board, he could picture how scatterbrained the doctor usually is. But, there was an odd sort of method to it. Like a method to an insanity, perhaps, he did not know. All he knew was that he’d never be able to think like the good doctor does.

 

Jaune had his face on his hand as he lazily looked throughout the room and saw someone stand up and pass a bunch of papers to the doctor at the front in his desk.

 

Oobleck looked up to the student, and took the papers, nodding at him. Before he put it in one of the large stacks of papers beside him.

 

Jaune watched how quickly the doctor move, his hands with the red ink pen, and the papers which he was evaluating at the moment. He saw how Oobleck moved quickly with his eyes and hands darting to and fro, and found it interesting how the stack of evaluated papers behind him filled up quickly.

 

Yeah. Jaune would never be able to work as fast as him.

 

Jaune looked down at his desk and saw his pencil and eraser just sitting there and nothing else.

 

He had already passed his own papers as he finished the ‘short’ quiz, and at the moment he was waiting for his teammates to finish so they could go out. Sure, he could go out on his own right now and get some lunch for himself, but he liked eating with his teammates with him. There was just something missing whenever he ate by himself or just with Pyrrha. It always felt… empty, he supposed.

 

But maybe that was just him getting more and more attached with his teammates more than he’d like to admit. He didn’t know.

 

Jaune heard more shuffling and saw Ruby stand up, before zipping to Oobleck’s desk and quickly adding her paper to the slowly decreasing pile of papers beside him. Jaune smiled at that. Honestly, he didn’t expect himself to be faster than someone like Ruby in answering the History quizzes. But he supposed being raised as an Arc and being all around all sorts of stories and such being told to him made him a good listener and at the same time have good memory.

 

He just regretted his first class in History here at Beacon though, he fell asleep at that time since he forgot about the schedule the night before and stayed up _way_ too late, and thus he failed to study and _also_ failed to answer a rather simple question which caused him to earn a bad reputation. But honestly, he wasn’t all _that_ bad in history, he just… kind of flopped that one time.

 

But that was before.

 

Jaune looked around for a moment and saw Pyrrha who was still answering her own papers.

 

He remembered the conversation lately with the Headmaster and frowned.

 

The Knights and Maidens of the Seasons.

 

Well, not really that, if what he remembered from the nightmares he’s had was right, then it wouldn’t be all too surprising to learn that this Amber was the Fall Maiden. Though him being the Fall Knight? He didn’t know about that. What he’d been taught on the Seasonal Knights were minimal and vague at best.

 

At worst, they just didn’t make sense at all.

 

Jaune looked at the window outside and pondered on the last thing Ozpin said to him.

 

“Swordsman in a den of tigers huh…?” He muttered to himself, wondering who that reminded him of.

 

Well, he thought, his father was a swordsman, but he didn’t think he lived in a den of tigers—at least, he didn’t consider his sisters tigers, besides that would just be wrong. Though… he did have another family relative who was a swordsman too.

 

“Living in a den of tigers?” Jaune narrowed his eyes for a moment, before his eyes widened. “Uncle.” He whispered in surprise and suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder.

 

“Hey Jaune. Let’s go?” Pyrrha smiled at him as he turned to the owner of the hand and he smiled, nodding.

 

Well. Looks like he had some calls to make.

 

* * *

 

 

“You found the Knight of Fall?” Ironwood asked as his face appeared on top of Ozpin’s desk. “How?”

 

“It was not an easy task.” Ozpin said with a frown, “It may or may not have something to do with Amber needing Aura.”

 

“But we have been supplying her with—”

 

“Yes, but I believe that Amber is far closer to death than it may seem.” At that, Ironwood went silent. “The Fall Maiden has called for its Knight multiple times already, it was only the task of finding who she was calling which was the difficult part.”

 

“I still don’t quite understand how this ‘bond’ of theirs connects their souls so closely. Not even Polendina can get a grasp of it.” Ironwood said, and Ozpin sighed, taking off his glasses and cleaning it with a nearby handkerchief,

 

“Need I remind you of what our world is called, James. It is Remnant for a reason. Much of what we don’t understand now may have been common knowledge once before.” Ozpin looked up at the turning gears for a few seconds, before he muttered something to himself, “In a different cycle, perhaps…”

 

Ironwood sighed and shook his head. “If that’s how it is, then I suppose I cannot do anything about it. Is there truly no way to save her?”

 

“None that I know of.” Ozpin said, putting back his glasses, “Though I believe you can ask a certain Arc about it.”

 

Ironwood grimaced, “If they’d ever divulge anything out of their own family, that is.” Ozpin chuckled at that, “Sometimes I think they’re far more secretive than us.”

 

“I suppose.” Ozpin nodded, before looking straight at Ironwood, “Though that may be for the best.” He shrugged and sipped his coffee.

 

“Well, Ozpin, you’re the one who’s guarding the Fall Maiden there so I can’t really say much on what you’re about to do.” Ironwood frowned, “Though I am glad you informed me. It is still your choice, in the end.”

 

“Very well. Thank you, James.” Ozpin said, and Ironwood nodded, before the hologram disappeared. He looked to the side and saw Glynda with her arms crossed looking over the horizon.

 

“Much as I hate to admit, Ozpin, I agree with James. The Arcs are far too secretive.” Glynda muttered and Ozpin sighed.

 

“So they are. However, now that the Knights and Maidens are needed once more, much less with the Arc scion being the new Fall Knight, I doubt dear Max would deny speaking up on this any longer.” Glynda sighed at that,

 

“I could only hope for that to be the case.” Glynda muttered, and in that moment, the elevator to the office opened, Qrow stepping out of it. Glynda glared at him. “You’re early.”

 

Qrow just glanced at her before walking up to Ozpin’s desk, “Well, so are they.” He put his scroll down on the desk, and a hologram appeared. “The Fall Family went down to one.”

 

“Who’s left?” Ozpin asked, narrowing his eyes as he watched the recording.

 

Qrow met Ozpin’s eyes. “The adopted child, Cinder Fall.”


End file.
